Day 3048

It was a nice, uneventful day. Everyone got enough sleep. Dash seemed in good spirits. And the weather was wonderful. I had no plans for the day and was determined to keep things that way. I went to the gym right after walking Dash and eating breakfast. It was the path of least resistance. You don't have to think at the gym. You just follow routines.

There were plenty of things that needed to be done around the house when I returned, but I watched another episode of The Expanse instead. Now I'm all caught up on Season 3 and will have to start watching the show on Wednesday evenings. I can see the appeal of binge watching on Netflix now. A lot of current season shows are available for streaming on the SyFi Channel, but all the commercials are there. To avoid the commercials, you have to wait until you can find what you're looking for on Netflix, Amazon Prime, or iTunes. It's probably worth the wait.

I probably should have a little more respect for commercials. They did provide me with a pretty good income for decades. In retrospect, I wish I'd worked for Space X. Going to Mars seems like a worthy goal. Getting someone to eat a taco, not so much.

The world of The Expanse is pretty bleak. Apparently, 200 years from now we are still involved in continual wars and are on the verge of annihilating ourselves as a species. Personally, I don't think humanity will have spread across the solar system in 200 years. It's been almost 50 years since we went to the moon and we haven't been able to get back there yet. Maybe I'm wrong. Medicine and technology are advancing faster than I ever imagined. I could never have predicted that I'd be walking around with a little phone in my pocket that was so powerful it has basically replaced my camera, my computer, the weatherman on TV, my rolodex, and most of my friends.

It's kind of irritating that I'm having problems with acid reflux again. I thought I'd put this all behind me. After taking Pantoprazole for ten years, my doctor convinced me to stop and I was actually doing very well without the proton pump inhibitor for at least three years. I'm almost certain the problem is just a lack of discipline on my part. When I was being treated for Hepatitis C, I completely changed my diet. For the first time ever, I was really eating healthy meals. It made a difference. After I was cured, I gradually began backsliding. I still don't drink and try to eat healthy meals, but I am eating red meat and pasta again. I've resumed eating bread and occasionally enjoy a pizza. Sadly, I can't handle Italian food anymore. Even a cheeseburger is risky these days. A mostly vegetarian diet completely eliminated the acid reflux, but it was so boring. There's always a price to pay for pleasure.

It's hard to believe that it's almost May. It's been such a chilly Spring that the furnace is still coming on at night. I should enjoy these cool mornings, because they won't be around much longer. The temperature will be over 100 soon and I'll be turning 70. I'm not looking forward to either event, although my advanced age will get me out of jury duty.

Parker is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3029

One thing leads to another when you've got too much time on your hands. Spending time last week trying to get an old MIDI keyboard controller to work has somehow rekindled my interest in music. I've been thinking about reassembling my songwriting studio. Some of the equipment is still sitting here in the office. Other stuff is gathering dust in the storage warehouse. Is this gear obsolete, or is it still usable? If it is usable, where would I put it? There isn't much space in the office anymore. It's easy to waste hours thinking about stuff like this. Today I reread an instruction manual for an old Yamaha synthesizer that has been sitting in a corner for years and still couldn't figure out how to use it. It didn't help that there wasn't a keyboard attached to the synthesizer anymore. Was this thing still useful? Who knows.

While I was trying to evaluate old music gear, I got a call from my friend in Kentucky who is going to help me liquidate one of my collections. This is my dilemma. I want to hang on to stuff and need to get rid of it at the same time. The logical part of my brain tells me that anything that has sat in a box for over five years really isn't necessary. The crazy part of my brain still thinks that everything in the storage warehouse will still come home again someday.

As I talked with my friend about the logistics of selling my collection, I realized that it wasn't going to be easy. Not a lot of people share my interests. There's no point in keeping a collection in cardboard boxes though. Especially if you've completely lost interest in collecting. I think the stuff will sell at my friend's store, but it might take a while. At any rate, I made a commitment to inventory everything and eventually say goodby to all the dusty boxes. It's time to start downsizing.

I think I've been eating smoked ham for too long. I'm starting to get heartburn again. This is frustrating, since I really thought I'd put my acid reflux problems behind me. I guess I could start taking Protonix again, but my doctors have warned me that taking a proton-pump inhibitor for an extended length of time is not a good idea. Probably a better idea would just be to start eating healthy, bland food again. I switched to a healthy, plant based diet when I was being treated for Hepatitis C and it took care of a host of problems. The only problem that remained was that I didn't really enjoy being a vegetarian. I've kind of slipped off the wagon now and am eating more red meat than I should.

Dash has his own diet issues. He's eating consistently again, but insists on boiled chicken breasts for breakfast now. He won't touch anything else. Today we tried to add some vegetables to his breakfast by adding peas to his chicken. Surprisingly, he ate the peas, but since he has trouble chewing, a lot of them fell out of his mouth. I've been finding little green peas all over the house today.

I saw a Red Tailed Hawk on our morning walk. I like these birds because they are loners like me. You never see a bunch of hawks sitting together on a telephone wire. Hawks usually hunt alone and other birds seem to defer to them. Mockingbirds, Blue Jays, and Starlings irritate me, but there is something noble about a hawk.

I hope I think of something useful to do tomorrow. Today was a waste. My brain is full of new information about MIDI keyboard controllers, but I still can't play the piano very well.

Apollo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2543

I was a little better organized today. I tried to get as much done as I could while the dogs were asleep. Once they woke up, I knew it was going to be a lost cause. It was a nice day, so I got up on the roof and removed all the standing water. This is the worst time of year for keeping the roof dry. The large Oak, Elm, and Pecan trees in the yard are all shedding leaves. Wet leaves are heavy and a lot more trouble to move than dry leaves. The roof was covered with water and wet, soggy leaves, but unfortunately there are still a lot of leaves left on the trees. I have a feeling that I'm going to have to do this again.

Since the dogs were still sleeping when I returned to the house, so I moved on to my next task. I needed to replace a lot of pictures on a website, but since the client had already resized them for me, the job went quickly. I was done before noon. I checked on the dogs again and Dot was still sleeping soundly, so I took a shower. Dot often poops in her bed while I take a shower, and today was no exception. Luckily, she was still asleep and laying on a disposable pad, so I was able to clean things up easily. This is when my luck ran out.

Dash woke up while I was cleaning Dot up and immediately ran to the kitchen and started barking for his lunch. I lifted Dot up so she could join him, but I forgot to immediately take her outside to pee. Both dogs have a rice cake for lunch. It's not really a meal like breakfast or dinner, but it keeps them from getting bored. While Dot was eating her rice cake, she started to pee on a rug. Damn. I should have remembered the correct sequence of things. Everything is so complicated now. I have to cut the rice cake into tiny pieces because Dot has trouble chewing now and almost choked on a larger bite of rice cake recently.

After the dogs finish their lunch, I take them outside and then they typically used to go back to sleep again. Not anymore. Dot is restless in the afternoons now. She paces around and wants me to take her outside every ten minutes. If I ignore her, she barks. I can't ignore her for very long. Even if she manages to get out of her bed on her own, she quickly falls or manages to get stuck in a corner.

When I could tell Dot was getting tired, I penned her in an area where she couldn't hurt herself and went to the vegan take out place to pick up something for dinner. I was looking forward to the meal they had featured on their website, but it was all gone when I got there, so I had to choose something else. I've discovered that I don't like all vegetarian meals. Some are definitely better than others. I picked out something new that looked interesting and returned home, hoping that Dot hadn't pooped again.

Dot's bed was clean when I returned home, but the day wasn't over yet. She ended up pooping and falling in the mess while I was getting Dash ready for his evening walk. I was hoping for a relaxing walk after I got Dot cleaned up and started washing another load of dog blankets, but Dash wasn't being cooperative. We were almost home when he froze and refused to move forward. Nothing I could do would convince him to walk up the final hill that completed out journey. Finally, I gave up and we backtracked and returned home the way we came. This behavior seemed insane, but I'll give Dash the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he could smell coyotes. There are coyotes in the neighborhood again. One more thing to worry about.

By the time Janet returned from work, both dogs were exhausted and were sleeping peacefully. This is what usually happens. Janet never believes the trials and tribulations I deal with during the day.

Belle is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2527

I finally reached my limit on political news and went back to watching Dr. Who re-runs while I eat breakfast. Today they showed one of my favorites: The Girl in the Fireplace. This improbable story about how a bunch of mechanical androids from the 51 century want to use Madame De Pompadour's brain to repair a stranded spaceship is surprisingly warm and poignant. The only episode I like better is Vincent and the Doctor about how The Doctor and Amy Pond travel to France to meet Vincent van Gogh. I wonder why I like these shows so much? Most people I know watch shows like Modern Family and The Walking Dead. I stick with Dr. Who and programs from my childhood like Perry Mason and The Twilight Zone.

 I decided that it was time to get a new battery for my phone, since I'm constantly re-charging it now. I was surprised when the battery store told me that they'd have to special order the battery for me since my phone was so old. An iPhone 5 is old? It still seems new to me. Apparently there isn't enough demand to stock these batteries anymore. I went ahead and ordered the replacement battery even though I'm not sure it will help me much. I really think it was the upgrade to IOS 10 that destroyed my battery life.

I mailed out my November invoices this afternoon and on the way home I stopped by the vegan take out place to pick up something for dinner. I try something new every week and am gradually increasing my vegetarian vocabulary. I continue to be surprised at how delicious some of the meals are. I still eat meat, but I'm making an effort to cut back. It's certainly not going to be a vegetarian Thanksgiving. We eat lots of meat on Thanksgiving. I think a meat-free Thanksgiving would be like Christmas without a Christmas tree.

I had several website updates to complete today. The work was fairly easy, although it took a while. Increasingly, nobody is interested in my ideas anymore. They just want me to replace pictures and text. I seldom turn down assignments, because I need the money, but I often wonder whether I'll ever work on an interesting assignment again. If the past month or so is any guide, it's not very likely.

It's amazing how little I get accomplished on days like this. I'm constantly busy but most of the activity is mindless. Every time I sit down to enjoy breakfast or dinner, one of the dogs needs attention. I've had to stop and clean up poop during dinner more times than I can remember. Tonight there was a huge mess and by the time I got everything cleaned up, dinner was cold. Something similar happens whenever I sit down at the computer to write. The dogs do sleep a lot, but it's hard to get our schedules coordinated.

The moon actually looked bigger tonight than it did yesterday. I wonder if I got the day right for viewing the supermoon? I've been wrong on these things before.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2513 - Halloween

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Halloween is a non-event in our neighborhood. When we were walking the dogs this evening, we saw one young trick-or-treater walking down the street with his Mom. That was it. There weren't a lot of decorated houses this year. I didn't even buy a pumpkin to put on the front porch. The holiday seems to have morphed from an occasion where children go door to door in search of candy to an occasion where young adults can indulge their fascination with cosplay. I have a feeling that adult costumes outsell children's costumes now.

I got my website project finished today. When I'm doing these things, it occurs to me that I'm still pretty good at what I do. It's a shame that these skills are no longer in demand. People don't even get excited about websites anymore. Everybody has one, but they have largely become like Yellow Pages ads. Small businesses need a website so that when someone Googles their name, something shows up. I buy stuff from large online retailers like Sweetwater and B&H. I order pizzas and Pad Thai online from local restaurants. That's about it though. I'm not even curious about most websites.

I'm not a political person, but I am curious about this election. The whole thing has become like a real life version of House of Cards. Every day when I turn on the news in the morning, there is something new that is even more astonishing than the stuff I heard the day before. I thought that some of Trump's blunders would be hard to top and then along comes Anthony Weiner. It's amazing. Both sides are running elaborate and very sophisticated disinformation campaigns. About the only news you can trust is coming from hackers. Even Snopes, a site I used to trust to give me the unvarnished facts, has been discredited. I can't tell the real news from the Onion anymore on Facebook. Just yesterday, I read an article where a democratic fundraiser said he witnessed Bill Clinton having sex with a cow during a cocaine party. I wasn't expecting that.

I got my property tax bill today. I'd forgotten about that one. It never ends. Every time I start to think that I'm finished with all these unexpected expenses, another bill arrives. At least we don't have a state income tax in Texas. I'd be really frustrated if I had to deal with rising Obamacare premiums along with all the other taxes we have to pay. I think I became eligible for Medicare at just the right time.

Going to the vegan take out store on Monday afternoon has become a new part of my weekly routine. I pick up enough vegetarian meals to supplement the leftovers in the refrigerator. There's always something new on the menu, so I'm getting a chance to try a lot of things I've never had before. I felt like Cajun food today, so I picked up a container of red beans an rice and some jambalaya with broccoli. I've never had jambalaya without shrimp or sausage before, but the vegetarian version looked interesting.

The dogs kept me busy today. Dash refused to walk in the dark this morning, so I had to give him his long morning walk after I finished breakfast. Dot seemed to have more energy than usual, and she kept me busy walking her back and forth around the house and backyard. There was the usual poop to clean up and meals to prepare. It was actually a pretty normal day. It didn't seem like Halloween at all.

Roxie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2499

A lady from the sanitation department called me this morning. She listened politely as I explained the problems I've been having with trash collection. I thought we were getting somewhere when she told me that the city had hired a lot of new drivers recently and seemed to agree with my theory that the driver didn't know how to operate the fancy robotic garbage truck. When I finished my story and asked what was going to happen next, I instantly became disappointed. "I'll talk to my supervisor about this," she told me. This is going to end like every other encounter I've had with a large bureaucracy. Maybe this supervisor will talk to his supervisor, or maybe it won't even get that far. I doubt that anything will happen. The drivers are probably protected by their union and can't be fired anyway. The driver might not even be at fault. There's always the chance that the city added fifty extra streets to his regular route and he is just doing the best he can to keep up with the added workload.

A little later, a representative from SiriusXM  called and asked if I was enjoying my free trial and wondered why I hadn't activated my subscription yet. Normally, I don't even answer these type of telemarketing calls, but this guy surprised me by calling my cell phone. I explained that I only listened to one channel in the car and their package prices seemed pretty expensive if all I was going to use satellite radio for was to avoid having to listen to all the annoying pledge drives on the local over the air public radio station. I took this opportunity to complain about the tinny, compressed quality of all the voice offerings on SiriusXM. The guy thanked me for my input and agreed that I probably wasn't the target audience they were looking for. I don't know why companies like these don't adopt an à la carte pricing structure. If I could just pay for the stations I actually listen to, I'd gladly subscribe to SiriusXM. I feel the same way about my AT&T U-Verse account. Why should I have to pay for hundreds of channels when I only watch ten at the most?

I went to the vegan take-out store to buy enough meals to augment the leftovers in the refrigerator for the rest of the week. I love this store and hope they manage to stay in business. There is no way I could cook all these interesting meals myself. Cooking for one is hardly worth the trouble. It's hard to buy small quantities of vegetables and if you buy larger quantities, the stuff goes bad before you get around to eating it. I talked to the lady who started the store today and she told me that she got the idea when friends of hers kept saying that they'd love to become vegetarian, but that it was so much easier to just get a burger. This store is easier than going to McDonalds. I'm hooked.

On my way home I dropped off one of my favorite watches at my local watch repair place to get the band fixed. It doesn't matter if your wear the watches or not. Eventually, they all just fall apart by themselves. I doubt that I'll wear this watch anymore, but it was an old friend that deserved some respect. I have no idea how the watch broke. It's been sitting in a drawer for years.

Dot seemed so tired today. I don't think the Tramadol pills are having much of an effect. I had hoped that they might help her walk a little easier, but that isn't happening. We'll continue the pills for a few days longer in case there is some sort of delayed reaction, but I think this is just an experiment that failed. I wish it were easier to transport Dot. I think the water therapy still might help, but I hate to put Dot through the ordeal of getting her to the vet and back on a regular basis if all it does is cause her stress.

Maybe something interesting will happen tomorrow. I'm not counting on it though.

Lucky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2480

It's never wise to disrupt a dog's schedule when food is involved. This is why I dread those days when one of the dogs has to fast before going to the vet for lab work. Dash needed a 12 hour fast with no food whatsoever in preparation for this morning's visit, so he couldn't have his breakfast at the regular time. The only way we could make this work is for none of us to have breakfast. We took Dot and Dash on our short walk around the block as soon as we got up and then I just kept walking with Dash as we started returning to the house. Luckily, Dash was in the mood for a longer walk. While we were gone, Dot and Janet had time to eat. As soon as we returned, I got the car ready and off we went to the vet.

I'm surprised that things worked as well as they did. Maybe I fooled Dash this time. I hope the test for phenobarbital levels worked, because I'm not looking forward to doing this again anytime soon. Once, the 12 hour fast wasn't long enough and we had to fast Dash for 24 hours. That wasn't fun. At any rate, Dash and I ate our breakfast when we got back from the vet, even though lunch would have been more appropriate.

The vet visit and the preparations surrounding it took up most of the morning and I filled the afternoon with mindless chores. I washed the car because it was a nice day and there wasn't anything important to do anyway. Washing the car is one of the few chores that doesn't really feel like a chore. Going up on the roof is definitely a chore. I did that too. This is the worst time of the year to remove water from the roof because the leaves are starting to fall and they pile up and turn the roof into a duck pond. It takes me twice as long to remove the standing water when there are lots of wet leaves. Keeping the roof free of water and leaks is a thankless job. It's discouraging that there is no end to this. It's going to keep raining for the foreseeable future and the flat roof is going to continue to retain water.

There were no accidents in the house today. Occasionally, we get lucky. It's hard to tell when Dot will go next. Sometimes she surprises us and poops on her walks like a normal dog. Other times, the urge comes while she is eating her dinner, or even while she's asleep. Since she can't squat properly anymore, I have to hold her in place using her harness. Incontinence is not pretty. I really hope I never become incontinent myself.

I'm still enjoying the vegetarian dinners I buy to eat during the week. The little company that makes these meals does a really good job. The food is fresh, imaginatively prepared, and very tasty. These guys have a weekly plan where you get reduced prices if you puy a weeks worth of meals at a time. I may try this next week. I'm not missing meat nearly as much as I thought I would. I'm not dogmatic though. I'll still enjoy bacon and eggs on weekends.

There was a pretty sunrise this morning. A pretty sunrise is always better than a surprise thunderstorm.

Spanky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2465

Taking care of Dot has given me a new appreciation for the problems that Moms with young children face. You really don't have much time to yourself. Whenever I'm trying to concentrate on a work problem, or relax over breakfast or dinner, one of the dogs seems to need something. Dot is not shy about barking when she wants attention. When she wakes up and starts barking, it often means that she needs me to help her up so she can go outside and pee. I never ignore her. You just don't ignore an incontinent dog. Dash has learned that barking seems to get my attention, so he's started barking whenever he wants something too. Often, Dash doesn't even know what he wants, but he has a very loud bark. Day after day of dealing with this chaos have taken its toll. I may still look normal, but I'm pretty burned out.

In between today's barking episodes I managed to get the damaged areas on the roof marked for the roofers. Doing this was discouraging because I know that when one area is patched, another area somewhere else is going to start delaminating and peeling away. I don't think this roof will ever be repaired properly, because what I really need is a whole new roof.

I picked up the prescription that was on back order yesterday and was pleasantly surprised to discover that the price hadn't gone up. About this time every year, my prescription drug coverage goes into what is commonly called the "doughnut hole" and the price goes way up until the end of the year. Why the government does this is a mystery to me. Why drug prices are so high in the first place is an even bigger mystery.

Dot's vet called to go over her blood test results this afternoon and they were better than I expected. For a very old dog, her lab results were remarkably normal. Her liver and kidneys still function fine. One of her liver enzymes is slightly elevated and her potassium levels are a bit high, but there was nothing to be alarmed about. I bet her potassium levels are a bit high because of the banana she and Dash get when I eat my breakfast. Dot's cholesterol levels are better than mine. On Friday, we go back to the cancer center for some more tests. I still wish that my own doctors were as thorough as Dot and Dash's vets.

I had another vegetarian meal from the vegan take out place for dinner. This meal was kind of a curry dish and it was delicious. When I eat these meals, I don't miss the absence of meat at all. In theory, I could easily become a vegetarian. Everything I've tried has been really good. The only problem is that I don't think I could cook this stuff by myself. The seasonings seem complex and it would be a pain to buy the vegetables and other ingredients in small quantities. I like the idea of a fresh, tasty meal that I can microwave in three minutes. Like everything else I like, this clever idea is way too expensive. Janet likes meat too. That could be a problem.

I got my September invoices in the mail today. That didn't take long. I really need more clients and more jobs. Maybe another writing assignment will come in tomorrow. I'm not going to worry about it. I probably wouldn't have time to write anything anyway since Wednesdays are Dot's physical therapy day. Will Dot poop in the car tomorrow? Will I get any sleep tonight? Life has become pretty basic.

Molly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2445

Two vet visits down. One to go. Remind me to never schedule three vet visits in a single week again. Dot takes so long to get ready and no matter what I do, she usually poops in the car anyway. I spend a lot more time waiting in lobbies than I did several years ago. Traffic is much worse as well. If these excursions are my window into a larger world, the world isn't working as well as it should. All the people I deal with are very nice, but most of them seem just as tired as I am. How can so many people seem so burned out? It just shouldn't be this way.

I wasn't expecting Dot to do as well as she did today, because she seemed stressed out in the car. Her acupuncture session relaxed her and she did much better in the water than she did last week. The technician who helps with Dot's water therapy collects watches like I do and we talked about collecting today while Dot walked. Oddly, this seemed to help her walk more naturally. Maybe she doesn't like people staring at her the entire time and making comments about her performance. At any rate, she seemed sure footed and walked very well today, even though we weren't paying quite as much attention to her.

I think the reason I like to go out for breakfast on Friday's is that it gives me a chance to eat in peace. Breakfast is seldom peaceful the rest of the week. I keep Dot in a small pen near the breakfast table so I can keep an eye on her while I eat. Dash is hovering nearby, waiting for me to feed him the banana I've sliced up for him. Dot gets some banana too, but she is much better behaved about her treat. If I don't feed Dash a small slice of banana about every twenty seconds, he starts to bark. When Dash starts barking, it often gets Dot excited, which can cause her to poop. Today part of her pen was siting over an air conditioner floor vent and of course that's exactly where she pooped. I had to put my breakfast in the refrigerator and clean the vent out immediately before the AC system spread the smell all over the house. Never a dull moment.

I need to figure out how to get rid of some of the stuff in my storage warehouse. The storage space is huge and is getting more expensive every year. The space used to be extremely well organized, but now I'm not even sure what I'm storing. It's a mess. I usually don't even think about the place anymore until the rent comes due for another year, which coincidentally happens next week. Whenever I renew, I think "this is the year I"m going to get this thing under control," but it never happens. If I just sold one thing on eBay every week, I could probably make a good little supplemental income. The problem with selling things though is that you've got to deal with buyers. I can't stand dealing with buyers. I bet I'll be having this same discussion next year as the dust grows thicker in the storage space.

I had another vegetarian dinner tonight. I think I could do this. The meal was delicious. The weak link in this chain is that I'm not making these meals myself. Some very good cooks at the vegan store are making the meals for me. All I have to do is heat them up in the microwave. The trouble with vegetables is that they spoil quickly and when you're cooking for one, it's hard to keep enough variety on hand to keep things interesting. This store has the right idea. They can buy lots of fresh vegetables, use them to create delicious meals, and then then change the entire menu every week, so people like me don't get bored. The only problem is that it could get pretty expensive to eat this way permanently. I don't see how a place like this could stay in business if they charged less though. Vegan take out is not a high volume business in Dallas. I hope this idea makes it. Places I like usually go out of business quickly.

There is absolutely nothing on the agenda for tomorrow. I hope it stays that way. Today was kind of hectic.

Hero is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day